Method of grinding or pulverizing gummy, pasty, or viscous material



Patented Dec. 17, .1929

uNrrnn STATES PATENT oFF cE I HENRY .F. KLEINFELDT, OF HOPATCONG BOROUGH, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR 'I'O ABIBE ENGINEERING ($0., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK METHOD OF GRINDING OR PULVERIZING G'UMIVIY, PASTY, OB VISGOUSMATERIAL I No Drawing.

This invention relates to a new and improved method of grinding or pulverizing gummy, pastry or viscous material such as gum tragacanth or gum arabic, waxes of vanot thoroughly chilled, therefore making it This, how

diflicult to grind the same into a finely divided product. Furthermore, the building of special grinding machinery within refrigerating apparatus is expensive.

The object of the invention is to make such gummy, pasty or viscous material more. friable and thus to facilitate the grinding operation thereof.

I have discovered an extremely simple non-wetting process whereby all such material in a grinding mill may be chilled with great uniformity, all parts or particles of such material being brought into contact With the chilling medium so as to cause such particles to be made more friable and thus to be more readily grindable into finely divided particles or a pulverized condition.

My process of grinding gummy, pasty vor viscous material consists in introducing simul taneously with such material into a grinding mill, a suitable. quantity of carbon-dioxide gas, solidified under pressure, and commercially known as dry ice, and grinding the said gummy, pasty or viscous material and dry ice together, thus uniformly reducing the temperature of the said gummy, pasty or viscous material throughout the mass thereof to make the same more friable, and enabling the grinding of such materials into a finely ground or pulverized condition in a much shorter time period.

With these and other objects in view, the invention comprises the combination of memplated.

Application filed October 1, 1926. Serial No. 139,015.

I bers and arrangement of parts so combined complishment of the results herein contem- In carrying out my invention I introduce into the conventional ball or pebble mill, simultaneously with a charge of gummy,

pasty orviscous material such as gum tragacanth, gum arabic,. waxes or the like, a nonwetting solidified refrigerating material and preferably so introduce with the charge to be ground, a suitable quantity of solidified carbon dioxide gas which is commerically known as dry 10c and then proceed to grind the charge and said solidified carbon dioxide ordry ice together. The charge of gummy, pasty or viscous material and the dry ice are introduced in the ordinary way and the pebble mill is closed and rotated in a conventional manner. The rotation'for a relatively short time causes an intimate mixing of said dry ice and gummy material, the

, latter becomes thoroughly chilled and frozen until it is brittle or friable .and is thus easy to crush and thereafterfurther rotation of the mill causes the material to become crushed or comminuted into fine particles in a very much shorter period or space of time than would otherwise be possible. Thereafter the finely powdered particles can be withdrawn from the mill in any conventional manner.

It will be seen that during the grinding operation, the particles of the material. will be prevented from agglomerating or agglutinating and the chilling or refrigerating element will reach all parts and particles of the charge so as to preventsuchagglomerating and thus to enable a morev thorough grinding and pulverizingiof, all such particles.

It will be understood that I preferably carry out my process in a pebble or ball grind-.

ing mill, first, so as to provide a closed receptacle which will insulate the charge and the refrigerating element from the outer at mosphere and, secondly, because. grinding in or freeze the charge during the grinding operation. Y

such a mill provides suificient time to allowthe non-wetting refrigerating element to cool Having described my invention, I claim '1, The process of grinding gummy, pasty or viscous material consisting in introducing into a closed mixing receptacle a charge of such material simultaneously with a solidified carbon dioxide gas to bring said material into a friable condition and then subjecting said charge to a pulverizing operation. 2. The process of grinding gummy, pasty or viscous material consisting in introducing into a ball grinding mill a charge of such material and a suitable quantity of solidified carbon dioxide gas and then rotating said ball mill to grind both of said materials conjointly. I In witness whereof, I have signed my name to the foregoing specification.

HENRY F. KLEINFELDT. 

